HL 1:16 Tank Shooting Distances

[Tread Flintstone]

Just thought I'd mention that after now owning 3 HL tanks (Sherman, Panther and Tiger1)....I found out the Sherman shoots BB's almost twice as far as the Panther and Tiger 1. Seems the shorter gun length provides less resistance than the longer guns of the Panther and Tiger.

Anyone else have the same observations?

Also....I discovered the HL Sherman smoke tubes were badly crimped/ kinked and replaced them with longer more flexible tubing....it smokes much better now.

I also noticed on the Tiger 1 tank, you can hardly hear the smoker at all but it works! Must be a better placement of it.

I still can't decide which tank I like best....
The Sherman is good old USA and shoots close to 75 yards!
The Panther is cool and exhaust smokes well but only shoots about 25 yards (as advertised)
The Tiger has near silent smoker and mine has the metal gears/ treads and is HEAVY!

Any other general HL observations to log here?

[capt midnight]

My longest shooter is my KT. It reaches out to 30 to 35 feet or so. That was with the yellow bb's. I haven't reloaded it with the polished ones yet.

I did find that some of my tanks had a light oil in the barrel out of the box. After a good cleaning with alchol they shot a lot better.

Bill

[Aussie]

I to noticed my Sherman easily shoots at least twice as far as all the other tanks.

[silversurfer1947]

If one assumes that all the firing mechanisms use the same spring, then the reason the Sherman fires furthest is because of the short barrel. The longer the barrel, the greater the speed loss from friction between the BB and the barrel. What you need is a barrel lined with Teflon!

[jarndice]

If you need a very low friction spray I would suggest "WD-40 Specialist Anti-Friction Dry PTFE Lubricant" Spray,
I can turn the gears in any of my Tanks by hand very freely and it does not "Throw" grease all over the electrics, and it is NOT sticky,
A squirt down the barrel could have the neighbours cat looking for safety after using it on your "Sherman"
Shaun.

[Tread Flintstone]

Yes I have mentioned shooting distance in another thread, but thought the topic was interesting enough to have it's own post. I thought it was also a good idea to collect observations from other tank owners and have an unofficial database of which tank might tend to shoot farther.

I'm glad Aussie agrees with my observation...makes me think I'm on to something. Twice as far might seem quite a claim, but I sit the tank by my front porch and the Sherman reaches my woodline which is a good 70 yards away! My other two tanks shoot roughly 1/2 that distance. The difference is dramatic.

HL claims to shoot 25 meters which is about right for the two long barrel tanks, but the Sherman.....whooboy....it really outshoots the other two by a large margin! I'd like to hear from more HL Sherman owners to see if there is a real trend here.

When you all talk about polished BB's are you talking about polished steel?? IF shooting steel BB's doesn't that mess up the firing mechanism?

[Tread Flintstone]

Wow I had no idea they made high grade plastic pellets!

I'll take a closer look at the ones I bought for an airsoft pistol I have...been shooting those instead of the cheapy ones that come with the tanks. They seem to be pretty well made.

Will be very interested to hear your shooting results!

Also...I'd advise opening up your Shermans to check for crimped smoke tubing. As I have said before, mine were 95% blocked with severe crimps on both tubes where they had a hard 90 degree bend. No wonder they were hard to fill! The tubing on the Shermans is much longer and roundabout than the short direct tubing my other tanks have.

[jarndice]

I just bet Sherman crews would have loved to have been able to out range a Panther or a Tiger 1/2 in real life.
Shaun.

[Tread Flintstone]

- But wow my Sherman sure looks tiny sitting next the the Panther and Tiger! But it sure does outshoot!

I also found it's a good idea to open a tank up as soon as you get it to check for loose or badly routed wiring. Or any other potential problems.

For the record, I just turned 53. But mentally I just turned 8.

[87lc2]

Interesting thread, I recently picked up a metal Taigen Sherman and it absolutely launches the BBs. I have 4 tanks currently, HL Abrams, HL Tiger 1, HL T-34, and Taigen Sherman. The Abrams and Tiger both have good range, the T-34 is terrible (maybe shoots 10 feet), and the Sherman outdoes all of them by a wide margin.